Thursday, September 29, 2011

tried recording a video with my new E-P3, the singing is very soft though cos the camera was closer to the speakers :S used the cross process art filter, together with my SLR magic toy lens! love the blurred background effect!

叮当 － 一半

ok.. the lyrics are wrong btw. and i came in too early on the 2nd verse.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

don't remember when's the last time i put YZ's face up here but i'm sure it's been ages, cos of a few reasons: we've been too lazy to even take pictures, and we haven't been going on any proper dates for the longest time! usually just hang out for comfort food at hawker centers and etc. plus, YZ's been working hard to pick up his business again (he's a property agent!) after a short break when he took part in the Giant TV show.

oh, and he's so damn vain now after his whole weight loss thing. TSK. he actually kept on looking at the pictures after we took them, with the sole purpose of self-admiration -.-

we pigged out at Timbre@substation, two of us finished one huge pizza and 2 sides entirely by ourselves! D: mad stuffed afterwards. the pizza is really shiok, though the roast duck one can get a lil bit jelat cos of the sweet sauce! complemented the italian half nicely since that one was savoury.

took the chance to test out my new baby as well since the lighting at Timbre was pretty dark! all pictures taken with the E-P3, and the flash is surprisingly flattering! doesn't wash out the skin tone which is awesomeeeee. woohoo!

our bill amounted to a very affordable $46.70 for having fed two pigs. definitely worth it, and even better if you have a small group of maybe 4-6 people, you can order more variety and it'd still be cheap!

the new cross stitch shoulders blouse that i'm in love with. wore it over a tank dress to dress it up a bit!

and here's a close-up of the cross stitch details. so intricate and neat! I'm a sucker for embroidery yes i am :X

***

received Lancome's Virtuose Drama mascara together with the revolutionary Visonnaire Advanced Skin Corrector, so i decided to try the mascara since i've heard so many rave reviews about Lancome's mascara! (all the above pictures are with the Virtuose Drama mascara on!)

Lancome Virtuose: 100° lash curve with divine length all day!

sleek looking little tube, it was fairly easy to apply on and didn't clump much!

it was indeed very lasting, and didn't smudge as well! wore it out the entire day with no problem.

i've also started using the Lancome Visionnaire Advanced Skin Corrector, which is supposed to be amazing! shall wait a week more before i review it. i'm pretty sure i can see improvement in my skin already! so excited for more results to show!

***

the case i ordered from Gariz on gmarket finally arrived yesterday!! friggin' expensive but omg it is super chio, love it! though it only protects the bottom and sides of the camera. the top is still exposed! ah well. handle with care.

& a hot pink USB cable for my iPhone bwahaha. #bimbo much! you can apparently get this off gmarket too!

went for iS clinical's launch event yesterday with Evonne and made a couple of new friends, Gen & Cher! :D two pretty girls!! and Evonne bought me goodies from Japan too, hohoho. show them off soon!

***

anyway, YZ just did something totally lame. he asked me, "where's your phone?" then fiddled with it, and disappeared outside the room. awhile later, my phone rang, and this is what showed up on my screen:

i was like, WTF? then i picked it up, and a male voice said in a low voice: "我是神。。。。"

LOLOLOLOL.

so i just WTF-ed and hung up the call and checked my call history to realize that it's my stupid boyfriend. after which he appears back in the room and is hysteric cos he cannot stop laughing at how funny he is.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

i've been using my darling Macbook Air for almost 2 months now, and every time i carry it around, i'm always amazed at how convenient it is for me to work from anywhere, the Macbook Air is sooo light and slim, hehe :P not to mention how sleek and pretty it looks! have been thinking about getting one of those leather covers for it, but they kind of spoil the streamlined look of the Macbook Air, and make it bulkier :/

so when i heard about KlearZkin, i was super excited! KlearZkin is a super high-quality film protector especially tailored for your Apple products, like your iPad, or Macbook! i got mine installed last week, and YAY! now i don't have to worry about getting scratches and accidentally damaging the sleek exterior of my Macbook Air anymore!

the installation was very quick and fuss-free, took about 30-40 minutes i think?

and once it's done, the film protector will adhere and dry in 24 hours and look super good!

check out my beautiful Macbook Air after it's been KlearZkin-ed! no fear of marring its surface now!

psst. KlearZkin is a local start-up too! support our local industry! :D

the film is cut to precision, including rounded corners, battery covers, and etc!

front & back equally protected, thanks to KlearZkin! two thumbs up!! now i can carry around my darling Macbook Air with ease now, no fear of scratches and marks anymore! :P

you can get your iPad or Macbook KlearZkin-ed too!

how the iPad's KlearZkin looks like, cut to fit around the buttons/speakers/charging point etc!

i had mine done at Vivocity! i think Vivocity is the only outlet that carries the KlearZkin for MacBooks product. free installation is provided, so no worries about not knowing how to install the film protector yourself! :D

one of those tuesdays when you end work late and your very very bad influencing neighbors jio you out for supper. we ate up a storm at Wan Tou Sek, superly full after the meal! thanks SK & SM for making us all fat. hahahahha. okay okay just kidding. you know i love y'all. honestly food is the only thing to look forward to after a long day of emails and parcels! it's always fun to gossip and commiserate together with those who know exactly how it feels and are going through the same thing as you! like therapy session like that hahaha.

supper again, soon! not at Wan Tou Sek next time okay? i think the dim sum there's way too oily! everything is like oil-laden. i prefer my Victor's Kitchen at Sunshine Plaza!

***

anyways, the Les Affaires event yesterday was super duper fun!!! heheh. we all enjoyed ourselves tremendously, camwhoring, eating, and trying on sleepwear! by coincidence, the marketing-in-charge was my ex-schoolmate, so it was a catching up session too! thank you Fel, Eils & Marilyn for taking time out to come and have fun with me, i hope you all had as much fun as i did! :D

sneak preview of some pictures from the event, it's on my very long to-blog list!

a specially designed plague with my name (omg i feel so honored!!) and lots and lots of foooood!

will share the rest of the pictures and blog about the event in proper soon! :)

***

haleigh cape toga romper in magenta!

this OTD is from quite some time ago! (before i permed my hair obviously...) finally decided to launch the cape toga romper next collection already.. cos everyone's been flooding my FS to ask me to launch it!!! hahah. okay okay.. next collection! i'll put up more pictures on Facebook soon! :) it comes with a matching sash, but i paired it with my own belt! i love the elegant drapey cape thing (i have a fetish for drapey details haha) and the slim fit of the bodice! comes in two sizes S & M :)

i've been damn hardworking and blogging regularly these few days. hope y'all are reading! LOL. another Sunday tomorrow. now Sunday = clear emails day! shit it's 6am already :( blogging is so time consuming! but i love it. hahahaha.

Friday, September 23, 2011

so i took a leap of faith (in my hair dresser Stephanie) and finally permed my hair yesterday at Salon Vim! it's called a texturizing curl for your information. the word perm is out of fashion already! :P

gonna blog a proper post about it with my painfully long (painful for my butt anyway) 4 hour process at the hair salon next, when i have more time!! D: but here's a little sneak preview to show off the curls.. i actually got Steph to cut bangs for me, but curls + bangs just seem a bit too dolly for me, so side swept fringe it is!! loooove the very distinct vibe and look, it's so very different from tame hair. hahaha.

my latest eye of the day: Freshlook color blends monthlies, in grey! my favorite colored contacts, very comfy for me. grey eyes seem to pop too much on me though! might prefer the hazel color which is more natural.

outfit: slouchy pockets blouse from TVD in wine, and wrap skirt from MGG! i'm wearing an S for the skirt! love the combination :)

you know who else needs a visit to the hair salon.

QQ is so super mad scruffy!! she totally needs to go to the groomer, can't even see her eyes already!

hello cutie pie

peeking at me out of the corner of her eye. she's so darling.

***

some instagram-ed pictures at the hair salon. i'm not used to the new updated instagram at all! some of the filter colors seem less flattering somehow. and it crashes when i'm taking pictures! shouldn't have upgraded yet. anyone knows why the pictures aren't showing up in my camera roll??

anyway, just follow me on twitter and instagram (@yinagoh) cos i always tweet/instragram lots of random stuff when i'm not blogging haha.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

don't usually blog about negative things regarding TVD, but i'm feeling pretty angsty now, and i just had to get it off my chest :/

i've been managing the blogshop for over a year now,

and there's always been good and bad times, it's not like everyone thinks, that it's such a breeze to run TVD and it got established so quickly and all that.

i guess maybe it's just too much for me + one helper to handle, so sometimes we might be slow in replying to emails, or accidentally send out registered articles via normal mail, or send items in the wrong size etc.

no matter what it is, we usually try our best to resolve all issues, and to keep the customer happy. so it really really rankles me when customers complain about poor CS or bad attitude or what not.

no invoice sent = item is all pending/sold. this is quite standard blogshop protocol, and i don't think it reflects on a shop's CS at all?

2011-09-21 09:41 pm (local) (from 202.65.245.10) (link) Select

em. i commented yesterday on the highwaist shorts but you didn;t even email me to tell me whether its pending or whatever? at least have the courtesy can? ok seriously. you guys should improve on your customer service attitude as there are a lot of complaints going around regarding your shop. you still want your customers than kindly improve!

(Reply to this) (Thread)

what do you mean by a lot of complaints going around regarding my shop, and if i still want my customers, then kindly improve? i have no idea who left this comment, but i'm sure it's a brand new customer who has never shopped with us before.

why so judgmental? and so rude.

yes i know there are bound to be complaints here and there, with some unhappy customers/transactions, but my conscience is very clear that we do our best to resolve any issues at hand and deal with every customer honestly and we definitely don't cheat our customers of their hard-earned money or do anything unethical. customers are not stupid. if we are really so highly complained about, and with such terrible CS and attitude, we would have closed down by now and be boycotted by the online shopping universe. so please, read what you see on forums/websites with a discerning mind!

i think only other blogshop owners would empathize with me. sigh :(

i really, really, put a lot of heart and soul into TVD, ever since i started running it full time. same as so many other blogshop owners i know, we work our asses off cos we enjoy the process so much, we love manufacturing apparel, we love fashion, we love happy customers.

i know we have a lot to improve on, especially in terms of efficiency and email replies. cos we get so many emails a day, we can't even get around to replying all of them within 24 hours, especially when there are other jobs to be done, like packing/mailing out orders, stocking-in at our retail rack, photo shoots, discussing samples and etc. it's really draining at times.

just hope that customers will give us the grace to learn and improve, and to better cope with the growing customer base.

we're working at it!

of course, i am eternally grateful to all the really nice customers as well, those that send us emails to tell us how much they love our apparel, those who are always super patient and super understanding even when we screw up.. the nasty customers don't realize it, that being nicer would probably get you better results than being nasty, hahaha. i love you all TVD fans! always making my day whenever i'm feeling demoralized or down.

just remember, a smile begets a smile :) what comes around, goes around.

i believe in karma...

new washes for candy empire shorts! guess i have to rename it now, to denim empire! heh. comes in washed black & washed blue now! :)

either the fit is slightly smaller, or i'm fatter. size M is really tight on me! :( tassel embroidery top is also an upcoming piece! love it super much!

the shorts are not gonna be launched yet, no photoshoots planned this week! so earliest will be next next collection. just a sneak preview for the disappointed girls who missed the extras from BO, now you have two new classic washes to look forward to! :D

okays. end of rant. promise we'll get back on track tomorrow, i'll bring my darling macbook air along with me to the hair salon to reply each and every single email if possible!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

work has been taking a lot out of me lately, and i haven't been seeing friends for so long, i feel like a hermit :( the only people i've been seeing are my fellow blogshop laobanniangs, minions, suppliers & my boyfriend! sounds quite depressing right :( you'd never think that so much time and work goes into running a small online business. shan't elaborate, some day when i have a lot of free time, i'll sit down and maybe write a long long blog post on TVD.. how it started and how i ended up doing what i'm doing now! haha. freaking long grandmother story.

neways.. finally got to meet my three girls for dinner, it's been eons since our last dinner! like some time in May lor... pre-Poland. lol. which also reminds me that i'm only halfway through my Poland travelogues. i am so so so so slow. i've been seeing Fish a lot now that she's working for LRH, but Woon & Aini are also busy with work, finally managed to find a night that everyone could take time off to have our dinner date!

this time round, we went to MBS.. so atas right! bwahaha.

to an Italian joint called Pizzeria Mozza! :)

just for your info, the whole menu is in Italian okay. so it's probably better to consult a waiter to decipher it for you. haha.

they served these cheese crackers thingy, i like!

all their pizzas are made-to-order, and the waiting time is like 45 minutes! super worth the wait though!!

Woon & Aini

Fish & me!

i still had to launch on the day of the dinner, omg, had to do up the entry with LJ's new freaking annoying entry editor in like half an hour! *panic mode* fortunately managed to launch on time, the girls had to wait for me while i wrapped up the launch before we could concentrate on dinner! love my macbook air cos it's so awesome, i carry it around all the time and don't feel the weight at all!

on to the food! we waited quite a while before they started serving the food, and the restaurant was extremely crowded! shows how popular it is.

calamari. why i mentioned you should consult the waiter before ordering, cos smart alecks us just saw the word "calamari" and interpreted it as deep fried squid rings, lol but we were presented with this whole squid on sticks! it was very yummy though! well marinated and tender, not too chewy or rubbery!

and i just have to rave about the pizzas. they are sooo sooo good!!! the crust isn't doughy and thick, it's a little chewy, thin and so damn good i had to resist from finishing it all up! :X diet plan, you see. can't take too much carbs :P

magherita pizza, just tomato and cheese goodness. the tomato was very tangy and it tasted awesome! the fresh herbs complemented the pizza well and super not jelat unlike some other pizzas i've had. VERY GOOD.

and my LOVE. al funghi pizza omg omg omg look at it it's covered in mushrooms!!! super not stingy with the mushrooms, and they were so juicy and tasty! dammit. salivating already. imma super big fan of mushrooms in my food! definitely must try. every bite is mushroom heaven.

we also tried the bone marrow anti pasti, this one was interesting! first time trying bone marrow, lol suaku much. it just tasted very oily to me.. must have came from a very well fed cow! Fish couldn't really stomach it though. hahaha. she said she couldn't stop imagining the poor cow while looking at the bone...

camwhoring through out, but the lighting's quite dim in the restaurant so it's not really a good place to camwhore!

Fish trying very hard to dissect her pizza crust.

me devouring pizza. YUM YUM YUM.

i ran into an old friend, J at the restaurant too! :) from church. we were wearing the same shade of blue! coincidence coincidence.

our meal for four came up to about 80 dollars or less? i can't remember, but the pizzas cost like $20 over ish per pizza, so it was pretty affordable! :) i googled online and read a few reviews, it's supposed to be one of the best pizza places in singapore, and apparently you'd need to make reservations for the weekends! highly recommended for pizza/italian food lovers.

a nice bokeh shot of Aini taking a picture of the view. whee. still taken with my E-P1 btw cos this was before i bought the E-P3! :P

in the end, we cabbed down to the only place that was probably still open with desserts: 2AM dessert bar at Holland Village!

they have really awesome cushy seats, and i haven't been there for ever cos Holland Village is so out of the way. but once the Circle Line is fully open, it'd be a lot more accessible to me! woohoo.

definitely maxed out my calories that night. we ordered four different desserts to share zomg! all very good. especially the chocolate tart with strawberry ice cream!!! great place to pig out over desserts and chillax. went home at 1am, full (guilty) stomachs and happy hearts.

i love my BF and our boy/girl dates too also okay. just to clarify, if not later YZ'll get jealous :P

BUT.

everyone knows that girl dates without the men are always much fun-ner, what's better if you get to unleash your inner shopaholic coupled with champagne, canapés and giggles right! :P

if you don't already know, Les Affaires is a French-inspired sleepwear label for women, and it has just launched its Fall/Holiday 2011 collection which includes gorgeous new designs made with lush, organic fabrics that are perfect for the tropics.

Les Affaires has kindly invited myself and three of my readers, to a Les Affaires’ Girls’ Night In, at its boutique store at Wisma Atria, so be prepared for a fun girly night with champagne & canapés all ready for you! we'll get to look at the wonderful new Fall'11 collection, try on every single piece if you wish, or just relax and sip champagne! :)

if you'd like to join me this Friday evening, 23 September at

Les Affaires Boutique

@ Wisma Atria #03-09

from 7-9PM,

simply send in an email to ask.yina@gmail.com,

with the subject header: Les Affaires’ Girls’ Night In,

and provide me with the following information:

Name:

Mobile number:

Tell me why you wanna come!

by Thursday 22nd September, 12 noon and i'd be picking three readers to join me on Friday night! :) what's more, each reader will get to pick out and take home a piece (worth $60 or less) from the new collection, courtesy of Les Affaires! sounds fantastic alreadyyyy i can't wait!!! :D come come come and join me!!

it's already past 3AM! gonna go head off to bed now! have a slew of appointments this week, very eggcited! :D gonna do my hair, and going for a slimming treatment. LOL. this slimming thing is never gonna work if i don't control my appetite. TSK!

Yina says hi

Welcome to my blog! My name is Yina Goh, and I own online boutique The Velvet Dolls. I'm passionate about travel, fashion, food, beauty and music. I love photography and taking photos to document my everyday!

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For professional inquiries, collaborations or engagements, hit me up at ask.yina (AT) gmail.com!